a simpler solution, perhaps?

[cpt_joshie]

within the last few weeks, i have taken an interest in rockbox. i downloaded it, have gotten it installed and even got doom and some themes to work, but ive read several of the forums and none of those (that i have read, at least) have touched on a factor that could be a fair ammount of trouble for me.
i own a 60 gig ipod video, and i have never once used itunes. at some point, one of my friends said that it was stupid and i was better of using winamp. so, in turn, ive been using winamp for almost two years now and i have a hefty amount of music already on the ipod (most of which IS in mp3 format). i simply want to know if it is possible for me to avoid wiping the entire ipod and putting the files somewhere else.
i had tried one such method: on the main menu, there is an option called database. when i started it, the numbers went up and it told me to reboot after it finished. upon reboot, under files/ipod control/music, i found music files in folders starting with F00 all the way through F49. inside the folders were music files all named ml_pmp00112.mp3 (different numbers for every song) and the like. when they play on the  now playing screen, the song name/artists/album shows up in the correct location, but they dont seem to be in any sort of order.
should i go ahead and wipe the ipod and copy all of my files to a new directory, or is there a simpler way to go about doing this? any input is appriciated

[GodEater]

Once you initialised the database in the way you've already done - don't access your music through the "Files" entry in the main menu, but through the Database menu.

Provided winamp has done similar to iTunes and tagged the music it's loaded on to your ipod, the Database should provide you with a view on your music similar to the retail firmware - so you can select by Artist / Album etc.

If you want your music sorted properly in the filesystem, then you've no choice but to move it off, and put it back on again without using the winamp feature to sync with an ipod.

[cpt_joshie]

ok. ive gone back to the database menu and it says "database is not ready. initialize now. SELECT=yes, any other=no" given yes is the only thing to do, i click select. after i hit select, it says "building database... 0 found (PREV to return)" is this something im going to have to wait out, or have i maybe done something incorrectly?

by the way, thank you for responding!

[AlexP]

Wait until it has finished.  If it just sits on 0, then it is choking on something, probably one of your tags.  Do you have things like embedded album art?

[cpt_joshie]

i actually believe i do. if that would help, is that something i can just delete?

[AlexP]

Yeah, the database can choke on large tags such as occur when you have embedded album art.  To make it work you need to remove the album art (which isn't in the correct format for rockbox anyway).

In terms of removing it I'm sure there is software that can, but I don't know of any myself.  Ideally you would want to find something that would remove it from the tags and convert into a format rockbox can use

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/AlbumArt

[cpt_joshie]

i managed to remove the embedded album art manually with one of winamps features. no art is left on winamp and when i run my ipod as normal, none of the albums that had art show it anymore, but when i try and run the database builder, it still insists upon staying at zero. is there anything else i should try and remove? could it be a different problem?

[cpt_joshie]

last night i tried uninstalling and reinstalling rockbox. after i started the database builder and it finished and told me to reboot, i had the same problem.
i DID notice, however, the first time i initiated the database builder since re-installation, that it located several more files than i had stored on the ipod. im sure i have no movies, podcasts, or audiobooks. could these extra files be the root of the problem? could they be indicating that ive got some hidden files that i cant see? is there any way i can tell if i DEFINITELY deleted every last bit of album art?
i also noticed a file in the .rockbox folder called "ignore database." thats not it, is it?
my ipod does work as normal, so im in no rush. again, any input is appreciated!